Fear gripping every fiber of her body, Natalya was unable to step away faster from the imposing figure reaching out to her. Her attention fixed on its stretched out hand. So large it could easily crush her head like a grape.
"I... won't go home..." Natalya said with trembling lips.
The cloaked figure slumped its hand, almost as if became crestfallen. Natalya breathed a sigh of relief. However, the cloaked figure rushed forward like a runaway truck.
"No!" Natalya yelled, extending her right hand.
A beam of light flashed from her hand, and the cloaked figure jumped to avoid it. An overwhelming feeling of exhaustion washed over Natalya and dropped to the floor. The cloaked figure watched as Natalya lay on the street and slowly begin to close her eyes. As it stepped closer to its target, the cloaked figure noticed that the beam had singed part of its cloak.
"You're full of surprises, daughter," the voice commented.
The cloaked figure knelt and took Natalya into its huge leather clad arms. As it was getting ready to return to base with quarry in arms, the cloaked figure felt a sharp pain in the back. Its skin was as thick as stone, so it took a few seconds to register what had happened.
Looking over its shoulder, it gazed at the figure standing defiantly at the other end of the empty street, gun in hand. The inhuman eyes of the cloaked figure examined every inch of the man, challenging it, sending signals to the one that controls it. The individual controlling the cloaked figure recognized the man as one of two men that kidnapped his "daughter." It couldn't have been a more perfect timing.
"Let go of the girl," Gustav demanded.
A guttural laugh emerged from the cloaked figure's throat. It echoed throughout the desolate streets.
"Thief, you show yourself at last," the voice from the cloaked figure slurred.
Gustav realized that the voice wasn't coming from the cloaked figure, but from somewhere distant. However, the voice was that of a man.
Finally, Gustav had a voice of the one behind the hellish creatures he had faced. Now he needed a face. But now, his priority was Natalya's safety.
One look at the gigantic cloaked figure, and Gustav realized that it was going to be a difficult task.
"Think you can get her back?" the voice mocked.
The cloaked figure roared. Its roar was unlike anything Gustav had ever heard. It reminded him of the shadow creature from the facility.
Two distinct creatures. Of the same monstrous nature.
"Spartan! Grind him into a fine paste!" The voice roared.
The cloaked figure rushed forward. Nothing but a giant blur in the eyes of Gustav. Barely dodging the rush assault. When he gazed at the large hole left by the creature, the voice had called Spartan. Gustav wondered how he was able to dodge the attack. Perhaps it was thanks to the mystic eyes hex, or just got lucky.
However, another rush attack would mean instant death.
But how he would fight a creature that moved as fast as a runaway truck? He couldn't open fire freely on the creature, for he would accidentally hurt Natalya.
A roar tore through the streets. The creature was getting ready to attack again.
The head of the Spartan arose from the large hole it had created. A glimpse of its eyes. Milky-white orbs, devoid of life. This creature was the result of more inhumane experiments.
Gustav tried to keep calm and analyze the situation. His body was tense, adrenaline rushing throughout his body, agitated by breath. His whole body was telling him to run. To hide, to save his own life. But he couldn't run and hide. The girl he had rescued was in the hands of the enemy, and as a man and a member of the police force, he couldn't allow her to be taken away.
Gustav raised his gun as the Spartan began to charge its attack, like a bull getting ready to gore him.
Two shots fired with precise aim from his.45 ACP hitting the Spartan between the eyes. Interrupting its charge and Gustav fired two more shots on the Spartan's right shoulder. Gustav ran as fast as his legs would let him reach Natalya before she hit the floor.
The Spartan roared in pain, but its wounds began to heal. But Gustav still was able to reach Natalya and run in the opposite direction of the Spartan.
However, having left the glass sphere back in Ansem's workshop, Gustav kept running into dead-ends and twists with the Spartan hot on his heels.
"Ansem, where are you?" Gustav yelled. Heavy steps closing in on him.
Gustav had to hide Natalya while he found a way to deal with the Spartan. He looked around and couldn't seem to find anything. He was in a narrow alley. Trash cans lined up against the walls. Those wouldn't work.
There was only one option. Use the mystic eyes and face the creature head on. It had helped him before. Perhaps it would help him again.
Gently, he set Natalya in a space between a fence wall and a few boxes and walked down the street to meet the Spartan who was tearing through the alley searching for them.
The Spartan stopped when it saw Gustav coming out to meet it. It slammed the ground with its giant hands to intimidate its opponent. But Gustav was unfazed by such a display of bestial strength.
Gustav fixed his gaze, and the world around him began to change. The hex had begun to take effect. He could see the fabric of Ansem's illusions to keep his workshop hidden, useless information, since he didn't know how to dispel it. However, the Spartan provided something more interesting.
A faint light in the chest of the Spartan convinced Gustav that was an important element to target, just like the shadow creature back in the facility.
The Spartan lunged forward, its fist ready to crush Gustav's head with violent force. Gustav waited until it was close enough to get a clearer shot.
Gustav tapped twice into the faint light. One round from a .45ACP had enough stopping power to drop a fully grown man. Hopefully, it would at least pierce the creature's chest and reach the target.
The Spartan roared in pain. That meant one thing. Success. Gustav emptied the rest of the clip into the creature's chest. No time to reload, though. He needed to finish off the creature before it healed. A few feet away from him, there was a chain. Gustav ran to grab it as the creature clutched its chest.
Gustav climbed on the Spartan's back and wrapped the chain around its neck and began to choke the creature. The Spartan gasped for air and clawed at the chain. As it was still healing from the bullet wounds, its strength was minimal. So it began to thrash around to shake Gustav off its back.
Feeling how he was crushing the Spartan's neck, a grim satisfaction rushed through Gustav's body, making tighten the choke. However, with the Spartan trying to throw him off, it was getting tougher and tougher. But he would not give up until this monster breathed its last.
It smashed him a couple of times against the walls of the buildings on the street, but wouldn't let go. The Spartan gagged and gasped from air. Its thrashing slowed down. Then, Gustav heard the sound he was waiting for. A snap. He had finally broken the creature's neck and slumped on the floor. Gustav rolled to the floor, still holding the chain.
The Spartan's face, if it could be called that, twisted in agony and Gustav couldn't help but grin at his work. He stood up and kicked the creature's head one more time to make sure it was truly dead.
Then he turned his attention to where he had hidden Natalya. He needed to get back to Ansem's workshop before another one of those creatures appeared. Gustav didn't know if he had the strength to fight another one.
Natalya was lying peacefully where he had left her, and softly stroked her check to get to wake up.
"Nat, wake up. Time to go."
Natalya slowly opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Gustav. She was happy. He had come for her.
But her happiness shattered when a large shadow approached them from behind.
"Father!" she bellowed.
Before Gustav could turn around, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He tasted blood in his mouth and something lifted him into the air with great force.
"The Spartan is not like those you faced before," the voice gloated.
Gustav gagged as the Spartan threw him across the street. He tried to get up, but was only able to rise his head. The Spartan's head was hanging off the flesh of its neck, and its hand had become a mass of flesh with razor sharp spikes jutting out of it.
"Spartan, grab my daughter and return home." The voice ordered.
Gustav could only hear as Natalya screamed for help and calling out for him, but he was losing too much blood and everything was turning black and cold. He groaned in pain and tried to get on his feet. It was all for naught, for he was at death's door.
The last thing he saw was the Spartan jumping into the night sky with an unconscious Natalya in its arms.
"Am I going to die like this?" Gustav muttered. "How pathetic can I get...?"
"Gustav! Can you hear me? What happened?" A voice in the darkness called out.